Starting a thread of tiny poems

[AuntShecky]

I never "got" the concept of "haiku" and wonder if it really works in the English language. But I love the concept ofbrevity. I would like to read tiny, ten-second poems by my fellow-networkers.
Here's one to get the ball rolling:

"Modern Love"
I am broken.
Fix me.

[MaryLupin]

Is there a word limitation AuntShecky?

Anyway anticipating a "no"..........


Suyapi cities

They took all the stars
from the sky and
fixed them to the ground.

Such power!

[AuntShecky]

No word counts. They just have to be really brief.

[ampoule]

Humidity

A sponge, full up
Stuck to a wall
Trying to move.

[Granny5]

You were there
So was I
Luck was with us.

[AuntShecky]

Loved all 3 previous tiny poems.

Compatible Couple

one, complaining;
the other, compliant.

[firefangled]

Sun breaks
over towers of glass
birds in rhythmic stillness
on five wet, black wires -
music written on the sky.

[apples of gold]

Warning! To all persons under forty. Please completely switch off your ability to visualize before reading this tiny poem!


Oh Youth!

You shine too bright. I need shades.

Oh what the he**!

I'm jumpin' in and goin' skinny dippin'!

[ampoule]

Sun breaks
over towers of glass
birds in rhythmic stillness
on five wet, black wires -
music written on the sky.

Oh my goodness, what a picture you have given me. I think I will have to watch the high wires to see what tune they are playing.

A cute little ditty..
"All God's critters got a place in the choir
Some sing low, some sing higher
Some sing out loud on the telephone wire
And some just clap their hands or paws or anything they got now."

[symphony]

An abandoned disc
lay in the sunlit veranda.

Upon it the sunshine
shattered suddenly into shafts
of all the cosmic colors
there is and ever will be.

[ampoule]

The paper's corner flips lightly
But how?
The fan is blowing rain.

(Sorry...I can't get past this humidity thing)

[firefangled]

Oh my goodness, what a picture you have given me. I think I will have to watch the high wires to see what tune they are playing.

A cute little ditty..
"All God's critters got a place in the choir
Some sing low, some sing higher
Some sing out loud on the telephone wire
And some just clap their hands or paws or anything they got now."

This is precious! Did you just pop this one out?


Warning! To all persons under forty. Please completely switch off your ability to visualize before reading this tiny poem!


Oh Youth!

You shine too bright. I need shades.

Oh what the he**!

I'm jumpin' in and goin' skinny dippin'!

This might be too long for here, but you tempted me:

Shadowbox
- to my youth

something like air,
you pretending to be
in the dark,
also fearless,
yet afraid…
your other face pinned
in your eyes,
butterflies displayed,
once were jitterbugs…

thinking you, with your gun
of words,
could win the war…
believing the moon
owned its pale, mottled light,
and life, persistent as weeds,
cared little where it grew…
gone from a pink house,
gray at last.

[ktd222]

The universe
with its trillion stars
is no more
than the width of my thumb

[AuntShecky]

I Pity the Guy

It's not the proverbial
herd of buffalo
living in the apartment
above Mr. G.
but a 350-pound woman
with a heavy foot.



Peace Offering

yeah well thanks.
In the words of
W.C. Fields to the iceman:
"Put it down
and get out."



The Narcissist's Wedding

I now pronounce you
Man and self.



Zen Tango

For hands to make
a clapping sound
it takes two.

[ampoule]

This is precious! Did you just pop this one out?

Ooops, I wish. No, a fellow named Bill Staines wrote it. It's the chorus to the song. I'm in a singing group and this is part of our repertoire. And I also teach it to my students each year.

All God's critters got a place in the choir
Some sing low, some sing higher
Some sing out loud on the telephone wire
And some just clap their hands, or paws
Or anything they got.

Listen to the bass, it's the one on the bottom
Where the bullfrog croaks and the hippopotamus
Moans and groans with a big to-do
The old cow just goes MOOOOO

The dog and the cat pick up the middle
While the honey bee hums and the cricket fiddles
The donkey brays and the pony neighs
And the old coyote howls

All God's critters got a place in the choir
Some sing low, some sing higher
Some sing out loud on the telephone wire
And some just clap their hands, or paws
Or anything they got.

Listen to the top where the little birds sing
On the melody with the high note ringing
The hoot owl hollars over everything
And the jaybird disagrees

Singin' in the night-time, singin' in the day
Little duck quacks, and he's on his way
The possum ain't got much to say
And the porcupine talks to himself

All God's critters got a place in the choir
Some sing low, some sing higher
Some sing out loud on the telephone wire
And some just clap their hands, or paws
Or anything they got.

It's a simple song of livin' sung everywhere
By the ox and the fox and the grizzly bear
Grumpy alligator and the hawks above
Sly raccoon and the turtle dove.

All God's critters got a place in the choir
Some sing low, some sing higher
Some sing out loud on the telephone wire
And some just clap their hands, or paws, or claws, or hoofs,
Or anything they got now.

I'm leaving for hula practice soon, so.....

Aloha!
Kaholo right, kaholo left
Ami, ami
Around the island
Aloha!

[formality hater]

A nerve impulse,
Gushing through,
Punctured vein,
My world going dim,
An electric-shock,
O' my microwave.

[firefangled]

I'm leaving for hula practice soon, so.....

Aloha!
Kaholo right, kaholo left
Ami, ami
Around the island
Aloha!


I know you sing in the choir in church. I would be very careful in the throes of some gospel tune and being moved by it as we all can be, even one as lost as me, I would take care not to lapse into Around the Island, or for that matter, even Kaholo right, kaholo left. I'm sure many there, though captivated, would not understand.

And if I had an unmarried clone, to answer an earlier question, I would definitely introduce you.

[Niamh]

so much for a land
of green fields and fresh air.
All i see is rubbish, decay and hatred.

[firefangled]

Some say the world will end quite loud
some say whimper.
From what I know of quarks and quiffs,
the world is just a bunch of ifs.
And if I had but second sight,
and belief was all that was required,
to make a wish be what is true,
I'd wish us love
and that would do.

[CdnReader]

Oh yes, firefangled. That would do just fine, wouldn't it? <sigh>

[blp]

The things you get used to being able to get
you want you need as you think of it
using your mobile phone and the internet


Peace Offering


yeah well thanks.
In the words of
W.C. Fields to the iceman:
"Put it down
and get out."

Classic.

[ampoule]

I want that!
That thing over there!
That ice cube!
Oh yeah.

And fire...would you believe I do do that in church? :D
And.......thanks.

[firefangled]

my sleep
has wing sounds,
follows the tolling bell

I am becoming dreams;
they stay open for me to enter,
to walk through the old doors left behind,
heavy with fear and moving shadow,
shifting with the sun across the room.
So much happens in the small spaces
of yellow light, knees aching, head bent,
to see what can’t be seen.

[ampoule]

As Englebreit says,
"Everyone needs their own spot",
So, why can't we budge?

[AuntShecky]

Some say the world will end quite loud
some say whimper.
From what I know of quarks and quiffs,
the world is just a bunch of ifs.
And if I had but second sight,
and belief was all that was required,
to make a wish be what is true,
I'd wish us love
and that would do.

I like this reply to Robert Frost's "Fire and Ice." Auntie is becoming a fan of Firefangled. I also liked your other short poem in this thread.

[ampoule]

Auntie is becoming a fan of Firefangled.

Well I am the self-appointed FireFangled Fan Club President! hehehe ;) ;)

[AuntShecky]

[QUOTE=ampoule;425548]Ooops, I wish. No, a fellow named Bill Staines wrote it. It's the chorus to the song. I'm in a singing group and this is part of our repertoire. And I also teach it to my students each year.

All God's critters got a place in the choir
Some sing low, some sing higher
Some sing out loud on the telephone wire
And some just clap their hands, or paws
Or anything they got.


There's a wonderful Big Band song from the 40s (slightly before my time). It was composed by Bronislaw Kaper, Gus Kahn, and Walter Jurmann-- I just looked it up. (You're welcome) The song is
"All God's Chillun' Got Rhythm" recorded by Artie Shaw, Mel Torme, and
a hauntingly beautiful rendition by Stan Getz.

[ampoule]

Hey thanks Auntie. Big band all right. I see where even Tony Bennett and Judy Garland have recorded it.

'Critters' is one of those twangy songs where wire and choir are pronounced with two distinct syllables.

[AuntShecky]

Revolt in the Hospice

Two comics
in a coma
told Death a joke.

They killed.

Variation on a Theme by
William Carlos Williams

Somebody knocked
over the
damned wheelbarrow.
Whodunit?
Well, that depends.

{Here's a case of the introduction being longer than the poem itself. "Evolution" was inspired by the so-called
Creation Museum, located somewhere in America's Bible Belt. The museum allegedly has tableaux right out of Fred
Flintstone, with humans co-existing with dinosaurs. Also,
cavemen are a hot topic today; there is even a sitcom based on the cavemen in the Geico commercials.}

Evolution

You and I
are Here, so--
at one time
there must've been
a nasty, brutish,
and short caveman --


and a cavewoman.

[Pendragon]

Going Somewhere?

I said hello,
She said farewell,
I cried a while—
Got over it...

She called me up,
I started to hang up—
But was that a baby
Crying?

We had called it quits,
But we somehow missed;
A life and responsibility—
We both wanted.

We said our I do's,
Now we have quite a few
Reasons to stick it out—
Together...

Pendragon
© 8/13/07

[CdnReader]

^^^ Really like this one, Pen. :)

[AuntShecky]

Some say the world will end quite loud
some say whimper.
From what I know of quarks and quiffs,
the world is just a bunch of ifs.
And if I had but second sight,
and belief was all that was required,
to make a wish be what is true,
I'd wish us love
and that would do.

Also, I forgot to say that the "whimper" line is a nice quoting -- aka "sampling" to use a rap reference, or even the style of Eliot himself, from "The Waste Land."

[firefangled]

Going Somewhere?

I said hello,
She said farewell,
I cried a while—
Got over it...

She called me up,
I started to hang up—
But was that a baby
Crying?

We had called it quits,
But we somehow missed;
A life and responsibility—
We both wanted.

We said our I do's,
Now we have quite a few
Reasons to stick it out—
Together...

Pendragon
© 8/13/07

I like this, Pen. Says so much in few words.

[blp]

Variation on a Theme by
William Carlos Williams

Somebody knocked
over the
damned wheelbarrow.
Whodunit?
Well, that depends.

Do you know the Kenneth Koch Variations on another famous Williams poem?

http://www.eliteskills.com/analysis_poetry/Variations_On_A_Theme_By_William_Carlos_Williams_b y_Kenneth_Koch_analysis.php

Florence has gone
blond
she's gone

[formality hater]

Your phone rings,
And the beep echoes,
But you don't have ears,
To hear it,
You are deaf perhaps,
Or like you eyes,
Your ears are shut too...

[ampoule]

Man it's hot in here!
Where's the movie section?
Let me out of here!

[Charles Darnay]

Five fingers clasp a glass,
cold, wet, strong smell,
somewhere in the distance a train whistle blows
where I'm going to, no one knows

[Il Penseroso]

A crumbling ligament
stirs even under
the softest touch.

[lavendar1]

Two minutes earlier than this
I wrote you on a post-it,
And now you're gone.
Dear,
did the wind whisk
you up
into the stars?

[Charles Darnay]

Apple pie cooling on the sill.
Sweet smells escape into the air,
a hint of cinimin?
Behind, a mother gently rocks her loving child,
her hair in a braid, her body in a blue dress.
Outside there is only me.

[firefangled]

-Valentine's Day, 2003

Colors this day,
Edge of a rainbow,
Genus of passion,
Flowers of exotica,
Fingers of dawn,
Hidden in sunlight,
In the symbol that joins us,
Dances in crystal,
Shyly in diamonds,
Falling in starlight,
Hearts between us,
Pulse of forever…

[Pendragon]

First Sight

When I first saw you
Come in that door
First day of school
Ninth Grade World Geography

Those soft green eyes.
That soft dark hair.,
I told myself
That’s my girl

What I didn’t know
Was you had felt the same
That gawky cowboy in
The back row seat

Through the years
We had other dates
We always turn to each other
For advice when we had need

You know my heart
Almost exploded inside
When you told me “Yes”
That day at the top of the stairs…

Dale Harris
© 8/17/07

[AuntShecky]

Breaking News!

It's been 30 years, but --

The King's not dead,
Not in Hell nor Heaven.
'Cause I just spotted Elvis
In the Seven- Eleven.

[formality hater]

You laugh,
And I'll keep staring,
And when your eyes would stop watering,
I'll tell you,my friend,
Your joke was not funny!

(How stupid can I get;))

[AuntShecky]

Another tiny one, not a particularly funny one, at least not
intentionally. But here goes:




In Transit
We don’t come sliding on a rainbow bridge;
no wisps of clouds puff out of our heels;
no stardust sticks to our original skin;
haphazardly we are dropped down,
without strings waving up to billowing silk,
without steely stone anchoring our feet,
yet here we are
detached, dispatched, and drifting.

Aunt Shecky
All rights reserved.

[kiz_paws]

Naked branches
scrawling their
way to the stars
and heaving
sighs of
relief

[Lote-Tree]

For Aunty:

Aunty-Mischievous
Fixing me up
With Mail-Order bride!

[sec. of defense]

Strung out and sprawling on couches and chairs
bathed by strings of fuzzy lights
a small radio sits among the debris
the music smoothes everything together
the scent in the room is familiar
and responsible for it all

[Lote-Tree]

"Modern Love"
I am broken.
Fix me.


Eternal Love
I am dying
Save Me!

[PrinceMyshkin]

Little poem.
Pale.
Underfed.
Wait
and we will try
to find the food you like.

[AuntShecky]

Do you know the Kenneth Koch Variations on another famous Williams poem?

http://www.eliteskills.com/analysis_poetry/Variations_On_A_Theme_By_William_Carlos_Williams_b y_Kenneth_Koch_analysis.php

Florence has gone
blond
she's gone


Oh yes! I do remember Kenneth Koch and I remember that funny, funny parody NOW, but I wasn't thinking of it when I wrote my tiny parody. Kenneth Koch's is so much better, of course.
Is the Florence poem yours. It's FABULOUS! And wonderfully tiny!

Replies #47-50 Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. All fun to read!
Kiz Paws -- your metaphor is Updikean. (Is that a word?)
Lote-Tree, I am mischievous, never anti-mischievous. (That would be Aunt Polly in the Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Or the civilizin' Aunt Sally in The Adventures of Huck Finn. I keep getting those old biddies confused.)
Sec of Defense- I know you're not Rummy. Rumsfeld with his tangled syntax could never write a poem this good.
You've got a love any line that has the word "debris" in it.
And the little poem about the malnourished poem-- fine
use of personification.

I'm so glad I logged on to this network. These were all delightful. Seriously!
Your Auntie

Florence has gone
blond
she's gone

Florence was the good doctor's wife, wasn't she?
Elsie, the gal in the poem, "For Elsie," worked for the family.
more about the Koch parody: all from WCM's tiny poem about the plums in the ice box. Jack Paar, the late (in more ways than one) night talk show host, had a similar experience. He thought the dish in his wife's refrigerator was apricots. But they were egg yolks. I kid you not.

[Lote-Tree]

Lote-Tree, I am mischievous, never anti-mischievous.


Bueno!

Welcome Aunti Loki :D

[Niamh]

I am tired
My body weeps last drops of strength
and darkness comes
i lie down, close my eyes, and wait for dawn.

[firefangled]

Ambergris,
on the sea,
the way tongues
carry myths
of what moves
in shadows.

[kiz_paws]

Kiz Paws -- your metaphor is Updikean. (Is that a word?)
Thanks, what a compliment indeed :thumbs_up

Yes, this is definitely a good thread, kudos to whoever started it! :)

His heart was stolen
away by the eyes
of the girl who
swallowed his
words

[ampoule]

Sleep!!
Get back here right now
and clean up this mess!!

[Granny5]

My voice is for you
For you only but if
Someone else hears
It’s ok I don’t mind
That everyone knows
My heart is yours
And was from that
First magical kiss

[AuntShecky]

[QUOTE=kiz_paws;432353]Thanks, what a compliment indeed :thumbs_up

Yes, this is definitely a good thread, kudos to whoever started it! :)

Guess who?

[AuntShecky]

Ambergris,
on the sea,
the way tongues
carry myths
of what moves
in shadows.

I like the last four lines of this. Re: ambergris. It's whale vomit,usually found washed up on beaches, but you are
right in that it floats on the sea. Perhaps you could write a second poem on the paradoxical nature of the foul-smelling stuff, which is an essential ingredient of perfume.

[kiz_paws]

If I toot
my own horn
can I play
in your band?

[firefangled]

I like the last four lines of this. Re: ambergris. It's whale vomit,usually found washed up on beaches, but you are
right in that it floats on the sea. Perhaps you could write a second poem on the paradoxical nature of the foul-smelling stuff, which is an essential ingredient of perfume.



I am just one of those weirdos who can smell the Channel through the vomit. I actually saw ambergris once from the bow of a ship in 1959 and it seemed like it went on for miles. I have never seen so many gulls. Only once so many birds (Cedar Waxwings) in one place. The sound is deafening.

[kiz_paws]

Trapped in a teardrop
I can't stretch my arms
stifled heartbeats
make me miss
the freedom
of being

[firefangled]

father’s fist of words,
forgiving is love,
forgetting is salvation,

perhaps another time —
long smooth backstrokes:

blue mother,
and yet this refrain,
and yet you listen

[AuntShecky]

father’s fist of words,
forgiving is love,
forgetting is salvation,

perhaps another time —
long smooth backstrokes:

blue mother,
and yet this refrain,
and yet you listen

I loved this! Firefangled is one of the stars of the network.
Your poem reminded me of "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore
Roethke.
See? Your Auntie isn't all negative!

[TheFifthElement]

I have to agree with AuntShecky on this one - that's a beautiful poem firefangled.

[AuntShecky]

I'm no Jacques Derrida nor Cleanth Brooks.
I'm just an ol' dame who likes jazz and books.
I didn't try to get fancy,
I tried to be nice.
You'd think it was Nancy
And Tonya back on the ice --
For out came the cry,
"Why, Auntie, WHY?"
Not brain surgery, merely debating,
Not Tarantino slicing up a PG-13 rating.
They thought they'd been stabbed! But --
It was only a scratch, a paper cut.
If penance you want, I'll jump in a quarry.
But what can I say --
after I say I'm sorry?

(Note: The speaker -- the "I" of the poem-- and the author
are one and the same.)

[motherhubbard]

that was a very cute poem AuntShecky. I for one did not have my panties in a wad. I'm sure if we could have seen your body language while you asked us the question out loud there would have been no hurt feelers.

[kiz_paws]

I'm no Jacques Derrida nor Cleanth Brooks.
I'm just an ol' dame who likes jazz and books.
I didn't try to get fancy,
I tried to be nice.
You'd think it was Nancy
And Tonya back on the ice --
For out came the cry,
"Why, Auntie, WHY?"
Not brain surgery, merely debating,
Not Tarantino slicing up a PG-13 rating.
They thought they'd been stabbed! But --
It was only a scratch, a paper cut.
If penance you want, I'll jump in a quarry.
But what can I say --
after I say I'm sorry?

(Note: The speaker -- the "I" of the poem-- and the author
are one and the same.)

Awww, very sweet, Aunt. And this thread you started rocks. Take care, Kizzo :)

[TheFifthElement]

I'm no Jacques Derrida nor Cleanth Brooks.
I'm just an ol' dame who likes jazz and books.
I didn't try to get fancy,
I tried to be nice.
You'd think it was Nancy
And Tonya back on the ice --
For out came the cry,
"Why, Auntie, WHY?"
Not brain surgery, merely debating,
Not Tarantino slicing up a PG-13 rating.
They thought they'd been stabbed! But --
It was only a scratch, a paper cut.
If penance you want, I'll jump in a quarry.
But what can I say --
after I say I'm sorry?

(Note: The speaker -- the "I" of the poem-- and the author
are one and the same.)

AuntShecky - a good poem, if unnecessary. No apology was ever required.

I've made a start on my Pylon poetry. First one really belongs here:


matchstick men
without matchstick
cats and dogs.

[Pendragon]

Equipment

Didn’t you ever listen
When you were taught—
We only fall down
To get up again…

You say you can’t see,
Eyes can mislead—
Trust what’s beyond senses
The heart and the soul…

That abysmal stench,
You find so overwhelming—
May be rancid reflections
Of your own broken dreams…

That pungent venom you spit out,
Lest it cause you to vomit—
Is it Castor Oil that you’ve prescribed
For other’s perceived ills?

Stretch out your blind fingers,
Seek out the roughest place on the tree—
Where the bark is so weathered and worn,
That side faces North…

Use what you’ve got,
You’re equipped for the journey,
The answer lies only
In using resources correctly…

Pendragon
© 8/25/07

[CdnReader]

^^^ I love this one, Pen.... especially this ...


That abysmal stench,
You find so overwhelming—
May be rancid reflections
Of your own broken dreams…


Great stuff! :thumbs_up

[kiz_paws]

matchstick men
without matchstick
cats and dogs.
Cool, hope you post tons of these! :) :thumbs_up

[Il Penseroso]

This one's kinda old:

Merrily he shot with a grimace
six-shot hypocrite
with floating seashade eyes.

Scoutlike sentry,
comic book dreams
of knots unravelled.

[CdnReader]

.

Love, like life,
is experienced
in the
in-between spaces.
The places we think
are too small....
The places we think
nothing can exist....
The places we sometimes
ignore
or
forget.

.
cdn/26aug07
.

.

The silence crowds out
the words that should be said.
Neither of us asks,
because neither of us
wants to answer.

.
cdn/10feb07
.

[ampoule]

My week,
Sunday begins it,
Church is the culprit
and I its accomplice.

[firefangled]

The oceans move like tongues in the earth’s shell.
Listen: it is the first speech, consonants
rolling over the bent world from drops of rain
fallen into the dust of trenches long drowned.
In its glossolalia you will hear
the voice of humankind gathered from shores
no longer shores, before the curse of Babel —
an infant’s voice, hands trying to point, fingers curled,
her feet kicks at the air for words outside the window.

[Lote-Tree]

Life is unfair.
Love is unfair.
We will just have to live with it.

(someone once told me...)

[AuntShecky]

The oceans move like tongues in the earth’s shell.
Listen: it is the first speech, consonants
rolling over the bent world from drops of rain
fallen into the dust of trenches long drowned.
In its glossolalia you will hear
the voice of humankind gathered from shores
no longer shores, before the curse of Babel —
an infant’s voice, hands trying to point, fingers curled,
her feet kicks at the air for words outside the window.

Splendid!
Aunt Shecky

[firefangled]

there is no waiting door,
nor near you (where
my breathing starts),

love begins:
never only,
only is

[AuntShecky]

Une Dame d'un Certain Age

We all know about the "pause"--
But when does the (ahem) period
Come to a full stop?

Pinocchio in Senescence

Even as he warped and aged,
His knotty limbs stayed limber.
With the crickety bug
He still could cut a rug --
But a lumbering trip
would occasionally flip
the call of
"Timber!"

[AuntShecky]

The Game Was Postponed,
But He Still Struck Out. . .Looking.

Some day (she said) we’ll have a hearth,
Just Yours and Mine.
Reflected in the fire’s glow,
Our glasses will clink and wave fine wine,
Not the cheap beer we so well know.
Outside a whippoorwill will trill
Under a star’s wistful flight.
The moon’ll blush full with our love’s thrill–
But, sorry, Honey, not tonight.

Aunt Shecky
All rights reserved.

[Pendragon]

.

Love, like life,
is experienced
in the
in-between spaces.
The places we think
are too small....
The places we think
nothing can exist....
The places we sometimes
ignore
or
forget.

.
cdn/26aug07
.

.

The silence crowds out
the words that should be said.
Neither of us asks,
because neither of us
wants to answer.

.
cdn/10feb07
.How true, how true! Good poetry! Really love this line: "Neither of us asks,
because neither of us
wants to answer."

That kind of expresses life condenssed.

Pen

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l108/AbsalomKane/Angelstar.gif

[CdnReader]

Ah... Pen..... You are so sweet. Thank you! :)

[firefangled]

Sometimes in this light
a poem rises like dust
and I must hold my breath
and fill its spaces
with my words.

[kiz_paws]

Our lives toss and turn around
much like stones in a
jeweller's tumbler
and when our edges
soften at last...
...what then?

[blp]

Is the Florence poem yours. It's FABULOUS! And wonderfully tiny!

Yup. Mine. Ta.

[Granny5]

Had a sick grandbaby last night so I stopped by to
see him this morning.

Max

Little minds and little hands
Little kisses for me
Little feet and little arms
That hold me oh so tight

Little smiles and little eyes
That dance with delight
Cause Granny’s here
To play with you and
Make sure you’re alright

Little baby growing up
Soon to big to hold
Sit on my lap while you will
And be my baby tonight

[motherhubbard]

Thanks, mom. He was so happy to see you! I'll keep this for when he gets bigger and he will feel special knowing you love him so much.

[blp]

there is no waiting door,
nor near you (where
my breathing starts),

love begins:
never only,
only is

This one's a keeper, imo.



sour milk dropped
with sickening
solidity

into
a blue

pool




Florence has gone
blond
she's gone

Florence was the good doctor's wife, wasn't she?
Elsie, the gal in the poem, "For Elsie," worked for the family.
more about the Koch parody: all from WCM's tiny poem about the plums in the ice box. Jack Paar, the late (in more ways than one) night talk show host, had a similar experience. He thought the dish in his wife's refrigerator was apricots. But they were egg yolks. I kid you not.

Didn't notice this before.
Really? WCW's wife you mean? No, I didn't know that. Nice coincidence.

Plums in the icebox could so easily be a cure for impotence couldn't it? Sorry, I'm being childish. I put some plums in the icebox once when I was staying at my grandmother's house years ago. They were just as sweet and cold as WCW suggested.

[TheFifthElement]

sour milk dropped
with sickening
solidity

into
a blue

pool

fab poem blp

[firefangled]

people
wait
in your head,

aspirin
there,
on the radio,

you too,
a poem,
almost —

ringing
phone

[blp]

fab poem blp

Thanks, 5th.

[AuntShecky]

I love "Queue," Firefangled. Very short, like what contempt. life does to our attention spans. This tiny poem of yours actually does what is says. An example of John Ciardi's stmt: "A poem does not mean but be." (obviously I'm paraphrasing. Will look up the exact quote.)
Ever notice the homonym,"cue"? Think there's some connection?
Over here we usually say "line" (another connection with
"line" and "phone.") In most of the USA it's waiting in line; in New York City, for some reason it's "on" line.

[TheFifthElement]

Decisions
line up like
footsteps
in
the
sand.
Tidal waters
wash them
out to
sea.

[TheFifthElement]

Petals
floating
on a
stream -

Your hair
smells of
sunflowers.

[Granny5]

Your hands, soft and gentle
The first time we touched
Your hands, strong and skilled
Every time we touch
You hands, sure and knowing
Each time we are together
You hands tenderly
Hold my heart

[firefangled]

I love "Queue," Firefangled. Very short, like what contempt. life does to our attention spans. This tiny poem of yours actually does what is says. An example of John Ciardi's stmt: "A poem does not mean but be." (obviously I'm paraphrasing. Will look up the exact quote.)
Ever notice the homonym,"cue"? Think there's some connection?
Over here we usually say "line" (another connection with
"line" and "phone.") In most of the USA it's waiting in line; in New York City, for some reason it's "on" line.

Thanks, AuntShecky. I've often wondered about cue and queue. Queue is so much more what line tries to be. It is a definite line reason.

We have line dancing in which everyone is dancing while waiting to get in or pay, or get cash from the ATM?

We have a gas line (I won't even go there.)

There is, of course, a line of reasoning, where everyone is standing behind one another trying to figure something out.

There is a support line, which reminds me of the story of Bertrand Russell giving a lecture somewhere on astronomy. At the end of the lecture during questions an old woman way in the back stood up and said, "What you just finished saying is garbage. The earth is flat, not round, and it is not supported by gravity; it is supported on the back of a giant tortoise." Russell asked her, "And what is supporting the tortoise?" The old woman snapped back, "You think you are very clever young man, very smart, asking me that, but it is turtles all the way down."

And this is why I love the word queue, even though I am standing in the line marked U.S.A.

John Ciardi's, How a Poem Means - Great book!

[kiz_paws]

Truth
snuck up from behind
and sucked out
my
breath

[AuntShecky]

[QUOTE=AuntShecky;436511]I love "Queue," Firefangled. Very short, like what contempt. life does to our attention spans. This tiny poem of yours actually does what is says. An example of John Ciardi's stmt: "A poem does not mean but be." (obviously I'm paraphrasing. Will look up the exact quote.)

It was John Ciardi -- it was Archibald MacLeish:
the closing line to Ars Poetica:
"A poem should not mean but be."

"Decisions" by The Fifth Element is a patterned poem, in which the lines of the text are arranged in a pattern or a pictograph. Another example is "Easter Wings" by George Herbert. When you turn the page that the poem is on, it is in the shape of what the poem describes.

[TheFifthElement]

"Decisions" by The Fifth Element is a patterned poem, in which the lines of the text are arranged in a pattern or a pictograph. Another example is "Easter Wings" by George Herbert. When you turn the page that the poem is on, it is in the shape of what the poem describes.

Aunt Shecky - I'm glad you noticed this. I was aiming for a footprint shape, but it kind of looks like a fish :eek2:

[ampoule]

That's what I tried to do here, a pattern poem. When I was thinking of avarice for the thread, 'and the word is...', I kept thinking of all the books and CDs and papers that I can't seem to do without and the picture of a friendship ball I had received that came full of decadent chocolates came to mind. I'm not sure they have anything to do with each other but that's what came to mind. Maybe it looks more like a top or a bobber. Oh well.


More

More
More for me
I really need more
I shall never have enough
Stack it here, stack it there
On the desk or under the chair
The shelf is full, spilled on the floor
I can still walk through it so give me more
What's that I hear, a knock at my door
I cannot get to it so I'll just ignore
The outstretched hand in need
Curse their incessant greed
I just don't have enough
They don't need more
More than me
More

[kiz_paws]

That's what I tried to do here, a pattern poem. When I was thinking of avarice for the thread, 'and the word is...', I kept thinking of all the books and CDs and papers that I can't seem to do without and the picture of a friendship ball I had received that came full of decadent chocolates came to mind. I'm not sure they have anything to do with each other but that's what came to mind. Maybe it looks more like a top or a bobber. Oh well.


More

More
More for me
I really need more
I shall never have enough
Stack it here, stack it there
On the desk or under the chair
The shelf is full, spilled on the floor
I can still walk through it so give me more
What's that I hear, a knock at my door
I cannot get to it so I'll just ignore
The outstretched hand in need
Curse their incessant greed
I just don't have enough
They don't need more
More than me
More
Ampoule, you are really brilliant at this art. I am truly humbled.

[may I also add that the name 'ampoule' means lightbulb in French, and I think of those beautiful little lights that one sees on a Christmas tree, when I read your avatar name -- hmmm, random of me, but I wanted to say that.] :)

[TheFifthElement]

I am moving.
The Earth is moving.
The sky is moving.
Peace
is in motion.

[ampoule]

Ampoule, you are really brilliant at this art. I am truly humbled.

[may I also add that the name 'ampoule' means lightbulb in French, and I think of those beautiful little lights that one sees on a Christmas tree, when I read your avatar name -- hmmm, random of me, but I wanted to say that.] :)

Thank you so much kiz. I wouldn't say I am brilliant but it certainly was enjoyable. And yes, I knew about ampoule. That is exactly why I chose it as my screen name.

[lavendar1]

Midnight sweat spills
off your forehead
in to my heart.
Too long a part.
Too soon to part.

[gothic]

well...to say the truth,I'm really scared to see so many scholars here,all flashing their talents every now and then.don't know if I should dare to put something in here...lets just give it a try.

Moon-struck

Moon-struck me
had forgotten for a while
the fossiled gloom
of precious mankind.
come stars,breathe for me
tonight.

[TheFifthElement]

well...to say the truth,I'm really scared to see so many scholars here,all flashing their talents every now and then.don't know if I should dare to put something in here...lets just give it a try.

Moon-struck

Moon-struck me
had forgotten for a while
the fossiled gloom
of precious mankind.
come stars,breathe for me
tonight.

Nothing to be scared of gothic, this is a beautiful poem.

[ampoule]

Yes, very nice.

[autolycus]

Yes, very nice.

This is a lovely poem too. ;)

Saffron rice
Very nice
Chocolate cake
No heartbreak

Drank my water, paid the check.
She was gone. Well, what the heck?

[white camellia]

Moon-struck

Moon-struck me
had forgotten for a while
the fossiled gloom
of precious mankind.
come stars,breathe for me
tonight.
Indeed a very touching poem. Here's one of mine too, about the Moon:

His Moon


Raise the veil, behold

His Moon

Too close to
Overlook her deep sorrow
Usurping her brow

Too far to
Reach her heavenly landscape
Confirming a pallid hope



Saffron rice
Very nice
Chocolate cake
No heartbreak

Drank my water, paid the check.
She was gone. Well, what the heck?
This is very lovely too!

[TheFifthElement]

Richard Aldington wrote a wonderful short poem about the moon which goes :

Evening

The chimneys, rank on rank,
Cut the clear sky;
The moon,
With a rag of gauze about her loins
Poses among them, an awkward Venus -

And here am I looking wantonly at her
Over the kitchen sink.

[TheFifthElement]

Sticking with the moon theme:


The
moon hangs,
a silver cup
low on the horizon.
Night drips in, heavy
with longing as the stars
slip with abandon
from its
grasp.

[ampoule]

Pie In the Sky

I'll just have that little sliver,
the one on the indigo plate.
Please! No accusations
about my big eyes! ;)

[gothic]

Thanks to all of you! You ppl really know how to encourage a new person in here!

[gothic]

From leaf to leaf
they drip down deep,
one after another,
forming a pool tranquil,
that swells steadily inside...
with blissful eternal streams.

And leave me saturated,
the drops of ethereal mirth.

[blp]

The fashionable people are here
Now
And what is most important to them is a sense of the
Now
which they are eagerly awaiting
Now
now let's not fail to disappoint them



Well, just received
that plastic animal thing
you ordered for us in the post



Guys at the meat rack
grimly intent on bagging
a bit of skirt
oh that this tutu solid flesh should melt

[Granny5]

you are gone
and I'm alone
except
for the part
of your soul
that is always
within me

[Riesa]

I'll contribute an old one in the name of the moon:


The slender moon hasn’t seen
A softer night, or lovelier dream.
Tonight she wears a tangerine coat,
Phthalo hat, and diamond brooch.

[Granny5]

I'll contribute an old one in the name of the moon:


The slender moon hasn’t seen
A softer night, or lovelier dream.
Tonight she wears a tangerine coat,
Phthalo hat, and diamond brooch.

Oh! I like this very much.

[Granny5]

For motherhubbard

I wish you would come and visit.
Bring babies and I’ll make coffee
and just let them play.
We could talk about everyone
who is not here and have a
laugh and enjoy our time together.
I’ll make some lunch and we’ll have a cookie.
I won’t be the mom and you won’t be the baby.
But we’ll be friends who love each other
And laugh and enjoy our time together.

[firefangled]

For motherhubbard

I wish you would come and visit.
Bring babies and I’ll make coffee
and just let them play.
We could talk about everyone
who is not here and have a
laugh and enjoy our time together.
I’ll make some lunch and we’ll have a cookie.
I won’t be the mom and you won’t be the baby.
But we’ll be friends who love each other
And laugh and enjoy our time together.


I am giving you a big spontaneous hug that I can't help. I hope you don't mind.

You are such a perceptive parent to know this. Once we grow up, we must begin to have relationships as one person to another person for true love to grow. I try and explain this to my oldest. Sometimes she confuses independence with distance and it makes her sad.

May your cookies and coffee be the best you've ever had!

[motherhubbard]

OK, HOw can I refuse that. I'll be right there.

[Granny5]

I am giving you a big spontaneous hug that I can't help. I hope you don't mind.

You are such a perceptive parent to know this. Once we grow up, we must begin to have relationships as one person to another person for true love to grow. I try and explain this to my oldest. Sometimes she confuses independence with distance and it makes her sad.

May your cookies and coffee be the best you've ever had!

It took a while for both of us to understand it all, fire. motherhubbard and her sister and brother are our best friends now. They have developed into independent adults and I don't think they live their lives trying to please us. That makes it easy to be friends. I think we just like each other a lot more now.


OK, HOw can I refuse that. I'll be right there.

OH MY GOODNESS!!! No cookies, nothing to fix for lunch....why do I make these silly promises??? I'll put on the coffee.:lol:

[ampoule]

What I want to know, is it US you are going to talk about. hahaha...you know, since we're the ones who aren't there. :D

[Granny5]

oh, you are here. We don't have any good gossip about you, amp, to talk about unless you tell us something juicy.

[ahsiam]

words are............
but not less;
can be a soul in a parchment.

[Granny5]

Thank you for coming
have a nice day
come visit again
now please go away



How did you sleep?
Did you rest well?
I work all the day,
played with some kids,
did homework with one,
then a bath and a story,
your phone call to say
"Good night my love".
Then I took that little
White Pill that I saved for
Last night and I slept
the whole night away.

[Granny5]

Suspended in time
Waiting for you
To come home
To start living
again

[Riesa]

Oh! I like this very much.

Thanks Granny! :D

I left it up to you
to remember the constellations.
How they've become just holes in the sky,
now that I don't remember
their names.

[AuntShecky]

Thank you for coming
have a nice day
come visit again
now please go away

This was great. It reminded me of something I read once about Gertrude Stein and her "long time companion," Alice B. Toklas when they were living in France and all the up and coming writers, the ex-patriates used to come and visit. Either Gertrude or Alice said, "We love to see them come, but we really love to see them go."





I wrote the following when I read the news story that said that people who socialize are healthier than lonely people, which reminded me of a title of one of Saul Bellow’s novels: More Die of Heartbreak:

Heartbreak

Hurts, but it’s familiar
and thus comfortable
and well-known by fans
of the Red Sox (or the Mets
or the Cubs) and by single
gals who spend weekends
with a crossword puzzle
and a cat --
and the legions
of those still waiting
for a lucky break.

You want to know
who has it? At your
next gathering, don’t
look at the spoilsport
sulking in the corner.
Look at the guy
telling jokes in the
center of the room.



Aunt Shecky
All rights reserved.

[TheFifthElement]

Aunt Shecky this is so true. The loneliest person is always the one at the centre of attention. An excellent poem (but tiny it is not!).

[ampoule]

Yes, you should have started a thread...very huge poems. I get it. I like it.

[AuntShecky]

[QUOTE=TheFifthElement;446368[/(but tiny it is not!).[/QUOTE]

Too long?
You have to admit
the lines themselves
are short.

About the only
thing I have
in common
with Dr.
William
Carlos
Williams--

teeny
tiny
lines!

(Have to get off the computer now! Hope to see you all tomorrow. I LOVE this site!)

[AuntShecky]

Ex Libris

They’re all pals o’ mine:
Janie Austen, Nate
Hawthorne, Larry Sterne.

Personal friends,
Best buds
Across centuries.

You know how you’d be
reading their text
messages and all of
a sudden they say:
“Dear Reader”?

Well --
that’s me.



Aunt Shecky
All rights reserved.

[SleepyWitch]

I've never done this before. here goes:

In the economy of tacit favours
I can never pay you back.
For every undeserved smile
I'll raise a private army
to stand ready till the day
this simmering world
makes up its mind
to drown

[AuntShecky]

Bête Noir

Security, modern man adores
you! There is no storm
nor pestilence nor poverty
nor even the deadly beast
lurking behind every door
that scares us more
than freedom.


Photographiaphobia

Maybe God is
not dead at all,
just camera-shy.

[firefangled]

I think I've posted this somewhere before, but it is sort of tiny.

Press

If we
had no books
only ourselves
what would I
read in lines
of your face
how long
could I browse
the corridors
of your eyes
where would
I not hear
the echo
of your voice
even your heat
would speak
and we would
learn by embracing
and the press
of our fingers

[AuntShecky]

And Today, They Found the Spoons

Now and then someone
would ask, “Where does–
did- she keep the scissors?”

“Closure” is a door that
seldom slams, though inevitably
inches away from “open”--

with each item recovered,
reclaimed, a short-lived
memoriam.

Aunt Shecky
All rights reserved.



Firefangled, I like the word-playi in title of the piece, "Press" and the premise -- what if we had no books--
is a provocative one.
Well done!

Yer auntie

[Chava]

Testily,
it's still oblique,
she says, "play me"

[firefangled]

Aunty, this is so very subtly done and so true. The door never really closes for a loved one.

Thanks for this.



did not mean to hurt
you(did not mean to hurt
me)please say
you did not
I

[ahsiam]

for once i thought of......
to be forlorn forever.
faint tears on painting.

[TheFifthElement]

Unpick the locks
from my eyes,
I'm tired
of the darkness.

[AuntShecky]

Aunty, this is so very subtly done and so true. The door never really closes for a loved one.

Thanks for this.


Uh, then I guess the poem fails, in that according to your reading of it, it doesn't say what it was meant to say.
I said the door never slammed, but that it inevitably inches itself AWAY from being "open." With time, thoughts of the deceased gets pushed back into one's memory, which isn't piqued unless the subject -- i.e. a missing object -- comes up.

[firefangled]

Uh, then I guess the poem fails, in that according to your reading of it, it doesn't say what it was meant to say.
I said the door never slammed, but that it inevitably inches itself AWAY from being "open." With time, thoughts of the deceased gets pushed back into one's memory, which isn't piqued unless the subject -- i.e. a missing object -- comes up.

No, your poem was successful, Aunty.

[gothic]

I'm back again! I thought I'd lost this thread( or had it been started anew?) whatever, I'm just happy to see the thread again and put a piece of junk:p

Raining on...


It rains on...
crafting myriad cosmoses upon the soggy surface of the grimy roof,
speaking in circles of lives untold...

It rains on...
your bushy hair, on the gloomy pits under my eyes
one by one they mutely creep down...

It rains on...
and rolls away the green bottle with her last breath;
It rains on...
laying the last pledge of life on death's relic...


I think I need to mention that it's a part of a raw translation of the poem that I wrote yesterday in Bengali. I know that the translation is hideous as ever.I have never been a good translator:(

[Pendragon]

Magical Walk

Wildflowers grow
In fair Rivendell—
Not the home of the Elves
But a waterfall I know…

The Ancient One fell,
Not a God from the sky,
But a tree on the trail,
Couple hundred years old…

The Council is called
And they circle around,
Stones not at Salisbury—
But in the depth of the woods…

Mystical places like Avalon
Exist for you somewhen—
But you’ll just have to discover them
All for yourself…

Pendragon
© 10/8/07

[AuntShecky]

Chick Sal Sand

Note how
in the dankest digs

someone remembers to water
the plants struggling
through lack of light.

It’s helpful to catch
the briefest spark of humanity:
the pedestrian’s grinning shrug
when the “Don't Walk”
sign won't change;

the abbreviated
lunch order scribbled
on a little green pad.

Aunt Shecky
All rights reserved.

[firefangled]

Poem

Sometimes in this light,
a poem rises like dust
and I must hold my breath
and fill its spaces
with my words.

[symphony]

Poem

Sometimes in this light,
a poem rises like dust
and I must hold my breath
and fill its spaces
with my words.

This is beautiful, fire.

[mazHur]

my heart swings with joy
when I see little toddlers
playing happily
on the Literature Forums
with imagery of words

[AuntShecky]

Pretzel

Rolled from a slightly sticky
column of dough, then
turning and turning, bent
backwards and forwards,
looped and relooped :

edible Infinity.

Aunt Shecky
All rights reserved.

[mazHur]

There's nothing like
old wine
fresh flowers
youth
beauty
why then I crave for
Hot Cross Buns?

[packersfan]

There stands Wendy, a kiss in her hands.
There is Peter, no one understands.
There’s Tink, enchanted and pretty.
And there's Hooke, he held no pity.

[mazHur]

she came
but too late
the sun had set
darkness spread
no moon
no stars
jet black all around
engulfing
my evening of life

[AimusSage]

Music through broken windows
When a gentle breeze puffs
to open the front door
revealing the leaves of autumn
Lying on the floor.

[mazHur]

I climbed up
The top of the Everest
but forgot the way
to get down

[Granny5]

4 am and I’m alone
No one talking
The dogs sleeping
My shadow even missing
Quiet peace
Surrounds me
And I’m content

[mazHur]

4 am and I’m alone
No one talking
The dogs sleeping
My shadow even missing
Quiet peace
Surrounds me
And I’m content


..........
Oh, what a pity!
you are awake in the night
until 4 am
alone
whydon't you get up
and switch on the TV
or cable if you have one
and watch the world
bustling with life
Or, if it may please you
fo out in the garden
have a short walk
talk to the roses
kiss the lilies
hold the chrysanthemums
and if the robin is awake
rub your beak with his bill
your nose with his nose
spank him
until he makes you laugh
and you laugh and laugh
until your eyes close
you fall asleep
and dream of me !

[Granny5]

How lovely, mazHur! But it's my favorite time of the day. No one to bother me or want anything. I can read or write or just sit and think. But, I bet dreaming of you would be as nice.

[Pendragon]

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[mazHur]

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Pendragon



Nice:)



lo
coming
going
talking rocking
eating drinking
waking sleeping
jogging strolling
sitting standing
lying flying
crying smiling
loving hating
reading writing
washing cleaning
riding driving
fanning manning
tick tick tick tick
keeps the clock
moving
Life comes to
an end.

[AuntShecky]

Cirrus

The blue palette’s been swirled
with delicate wisps
as if brushed by a feather
or swished with white
paint by a mare’s tail,
not like the comically bizarre
mackerels, mottled like the back
of a high-flying fish –
nor menacing
like the bullying and brackish
bulky cumulonimbus:
those are some serious clouds.

Aunt Shecky
All rights reserved.

[mazHur]

Cirrus

The blue palette’s been swirled
with delicate wisps
as if brushed by a feather
or swished with white
paint by a mare’s tail,
not like the comically bizarre
mackerels, mottled like the back
of a high-flying fish –
nor menacing
like the bullying and brackish
bulky cumulonimbus:
those are some serious clouds.

Aunt Shecky
All rights reserved.



lovely poem:)
Ah, you don't seem to like fish, the origin of all species on earth !

[AuntShecky]

I love fish! Especially with a little tartar sauce. No, I kid, I kid.
Cirrocumulus clouds actuallyhave the nickname "mackerels" because the sky does look like the scales on the back of the big fish with that name.

By the bye, there is also a type of cloud called "lenticular," very even-ly shaped, like a lens -- or a flying saucer!

[mazHur]

I love fish! Especially with a little tartar sauce. No, I kid, I kid.
Cirrocumulus clouds actuallyhave the nickname "mackerels" because the sky does look like the scales on the back of the big fish with that name.

By the bye, there is also a type of cloud called "lenticular," very even-ly shaped, like a lens -- or a flying saucer!

oh, I see. Thanks for your elaboration on types of clouds.(nice education!)lol

Your poem is One Thought so beautifully expressed with well chosen words and flow.
keepup the good work!

[AdoreroDio]

Silence
Glorious and Terrifying
I want to stand in
front of you in
Silence

[AuntShecky]

Thank you for your kind response, MazHur.

[mazHur]

you are welcome.

[blp]

This is a parody of symphony's signature:

a word
becomes a world
a dot
a donut

[firefangled]

Cirrus

The blue palette’s been swirled
with delicate wisps
as if brushed by a feather
or swished with white
paint by a mare’s tail,
not like the comically bizarre
mackerels, mottled like the back
of a high-flying fish –
nor menacing
like the bullying and brackish
bulky cumulonimbus:
those are some serious clouds.

Aunt Shecky
All rights reserved.

Aunt Sheky, the "s(h)" (air sounds) you carry throughout this is masterful. I liked it very much.

[AuntShecky]

Thank you, dear Firefangled.

[AuntShecky]

"Who are a little wise the best fools be."
--John Donne

Let's see now, you've got your
stupid fools, and your damned
fools, and a delicious dessert
called a raspberry fool,
and lest we forget, of course,
there's no fool like an old fool --

But never in the world's history
has there ever been such
a damned stupid old fool like
me.

[andave_ya]

Dark walls
Empty rooms
Lights off
Misery looms.

[mazHur]

Ah, Loneliness---
Nice!

[AuntShecky]

- - - - -
Darkening Days

The child sleeps too soon
and awakens too soon.

The night sky hides the moon,
else we could embrace the moon.

The fuel we’re not supposed to burn
at both ends of day, we burn, we burn.

Oh that the sun would lengthen the day
that heaven would return us another day:
pray.
Pray.

- - - - -

[Haven]

The dog licked his bowl as clean as he could
a morsel of meat escaping his tongue
frustrated his sense of a job well done...

[blp]

I've received an email containing the following request for very small poems:

VERY SMALL POEMS WANTED

Since its first issue in 1972, Clown War and its successor CLWN WR have frequently
published very small poems in both regular and special small poem issues. Among the
writers who have contributed small poems to Clown War/CLWN WR are Cid Corman, Ted
Berrigan, F.A. Nettelbeck, Ray DiPalma, Bruce Andrews, Lyn Hejinian, Eileen Myles, Bob
Holman, Keith Abbott, Dave Morice, Joel Dailey, Nathan Whiting, Brian McInerney, Charles
Bernstein, Alex Caldiero and many others. We have also published very small visual poems
by David Cole, John M. Bennett, Scott Helmes, M. Kasper, Hannah Weiner, Roy Arenella and
others.

After a long hibernation CLWN WR is once again starting a series of special issues devoted
to the very small poem in all of its manifestations. We invite small poems no larger than
50 words (but prefer works much smaller) that will fit comfortably on a 5 &#189; by 4 &#188; inch
page. We also invite visual poems no larger than 3 by 4 inches actual size. We are
particularly interested in the experimental, the minimal, and the highly compressed, in
prose poems, and in works that touch the sense of wonder. We have little interest in haiku.
Pieces will be judged both on their own merit, and on their ability to coexist with the other
small poems with which they will be sharing space.

Issues will be fairly ephemeral, usually 32-48 pages, with a press run of around 200
copies. CLWN WR will not be sold, but will be distributed to a select list of poets, artists,
editors and others who I want to receive it. Each contributor will be given several copies of
the issue in which they appear. In order to reach more readers current issues will also be
archived on the CLWN WR web-site which is currently being built.

Please send works (with SASE) to:

Bob Heman, ed.
CLWN WR
P.O. Box 2165
Church St. Station
New York, NY 10008-2165
USA

E-mail submissions will not be considered (except from those who live outside the United
States), but queries, comments, etc. can be sent to me at: editor@clwnwr. org

Please spread the word.

http://www.clwnwr.org/SubmissionGu ide.htm

[Pendragon]

Why are you here?
Missed the bus.
You?
Car broke down.

Think the train will be on time?
Usually is.
Harris.
Jackson.

Going to work?
Dropping off a manuscript. You?
Lawyer. Anders, Richards, and Jackson.
Well, good luck.

Pendragon
© 11/10/07

[jon1jt]

nice one, Pen. i "hear" that as conversation with a beat, wow.


put my piece in a separate thread, don't mind me.

[blp]

It's true, that's a really great one, Pen.

[kiz_paws]

This is a parody of symphony's signature:

a word
becomes a world
a dot
a donut

Totally refreshing....loved it! :)

[symphony]

This is a parody of symphony's signature:

a word
becomes a world
a dot
a donut

LOL blp, didnt notice this before. How could i miss something that looks so familiar?! :p Your poem's certainly more yum than mine! :lol:

And hey! why cant a word be a walnut?! :brow:

[blp]

Or a walnut whip. ;)

Glad you liked it kiz paws...and that it gave you a laugh, symphony.

[AdoreroDio]

Tiny footsteps
pitter,patter
'cross the floor
beat the drum
that sets the toon
of childhood

[jon1jt]

haymaking and fishing.
big barrels out on the bogs
a young couple to leave
New England with
scarfs over their faces,
ripe for innuendo

[kiz_paws]

Tiny footsteps
pitter,patter
'cross the floor
beat the drum
that sets the toon
of childhood
A.D. - totally sweet, I can picture that little one now. :)


haymaking and fishing.
big barrels out on the bogs
a young couple to leave
New England with
scarfs over their faces,
ripe for innuendo
Jon, your endings are always so powerful. Loved it. :)

[Pendragon]

Gossip

“Got it from a good source, mind you.
“And it’s to go no further, you understand?”
“What?”
“The dirt on Sally?”
“Well, you see he said that she said that they said—
“so it must be true don’t you think?”
“Oh, get real, girlfriend!”
“Last weekend?”
“Oh she told him, and he told them,
“and they told grandma, and of course she told us!”
“How true!”
“It’s that old bat across the hall ringing for the line again!
“Some people! Tongue tied in the middle and wags at both ends!
“I hate people who can’t keep their mouth shut for five minutes!
“Don’t you?”

Dale Harris
© 3/14/96

Inspired by the famous Norman Rockwell painting…

[kiz_paws]

Loved your poem, Pen. How you have captured the sentiment perfectly. :thumbs_up

[jon1jt]

pen, your dialogue is electric.



The man drew up his eyes, considers
tangled down bodies in shadowed sheets,
elegant frames, asleep,
the way light he made to fall across
her neck,
she slept. Left her a note in morning:
"My watery self-portrait love, Sleep.
---Vincent Desiderio"

[kiz_paws]

Jon, you must have gone to an exhibition (lucky you!!), but even no, your poem has captured the visual beautifully. Thanks for the tribute to Vincent! :thumbs_up

[jon1jt]

yes! and i actually learned something about stretching light oil painting!

he's amazing isn't he?!?!! that Sleep portrait...ahh!

[AdoreroDio]

SHOUT!
Jump for joy!
Run!
Sing!
Do!
If you don't
what moment
have you wasted
what second
have you spent
that you could have
spent dancing
and singing
and leaping
LIVING!
That voice
is calling you
answer it!
Be still no longer!
Live!
Laugh!
Be free!
For we were created
for freedom
Use it!

[Pendragon]

pen, your dialogue is electric.



The man drew up his eyes, considers
tangled down bodies in shadowed sheets,
elegant frames, asleep,
the way light he made to fall across
her neck,
she slept. Left her a note in morning:
"My watery self-portrait love, Sleep.
---Vincent Desiderio"

Art can come to life in more than painting, I think you just proved, Jon! Thanks for the comments on my dialogue poems. Coming from a poet of your skill that's ambrosia! I really never thought anyone would like them...

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l108/AbsalomKane/Four/MightWork.gif

[AdoreroDio]

Click,click,click
Life begins
tap,tap,tap
an enemy made
click,clack,click
climax begins
tap,tap,tap
A life ends
Click! Ding!
A story is written

[PrinceMyshkin]

Love? It is the flavour
of the millennium, it is the scent
of someone far away and yet
surrounding me,
in my nostrils,
in my heart.

[Pendragon]

On my way
I met someone.
Don't recall who
Just now.
Taught me everything
I know about
Life in
General.
Maybe I should have
Paid more attention,
Little details
Can get one lost.
Flowers that bloom
In early Spring
Often slain
By a Killing Frost...

Pendragon
&#169; 11/19/07

[kiz_paws]

Very nice, Pen, I read your poem more than three times, because it really spoke to me. Thanks. :)

[blp]

Yes, again, I like it too. Not sure about 'can get one lost' though. Shouldn't that just be 'can get lost'?

[Pendragon]

Yes, again, I like it too. Not sure about 'can get one lost' though. Shouldn't that just be 'can get lost'?No.
Have to read it in with the rest:

Maybe I should have
Paid more attention,
Little details
Can get one lost.

Person gets lost, not the details...

[mazHur]

get up,
close the door,
shut the windows,
put on fur coat,
kindle fire,
relax.
My sixth sense
tells me
a blizzard
is brewing
outside.

[jon1jt]

The river's water glitters,
pitters, our crave of blood.
The scene, world coughs a
crazy bravado. All this fluster,
miraculous as tears.

[Pendragon]

Unexpected Resources

Doldrums descend.
Just leave me alone.
I gotta find someplace,
Where no one dare bother me.

Lonely old graveyard,
Just off an old dirt road—
Folk don’t come up here much,
Usually…

Weathered old flat stone,
Even the name long gone—
I’m guessing they won’t mind,
If I rest here.

“Hey buddy, you OK?”
Why not just tell him the truth?
Didn’t hear him drive up,
But he looks kind and concerned in the moonlight.

“No. Feel like I’ve been through hell.
“About to loose my mind.
“Nobody cares any more, ya know?
“Heaven knows why I’m tellin’ you.

“Middle of nowhere out here.
“You ever feel like your world was comin’ to an end?”
He nodded kind of slowly.
“That’s my grave you’re sittin’ on…”

Pendragon
&#169; 11/23/07

[blp]

Another great one, Pen. This thread seems to bring out the best in you, even if it doesn't actually bring out tiny poems from you. :lol: Why not just give this it's own thread?

[kiz_paws]

Pen, that was a wonderful poem, loved the surprise ending. :thumbs_up

[AuntShecky]

Sisyphus 2007

They said I couldn't
do it. They've been right
so far, those gods. What do they
want me to do? Sit
at the bottom
of the hill
and cry ? I push
so hard: days become
months; years, millennia.
Eh, this is the price
one pays for dreaming.
So step aside.
Heads up.
Let’s roll.

All Rights Reserved.

[AuntShecky]

From the Want Ads

Will Write For Food.
Corporate reports, belles-lettres
penned to order.
Can diversify
and versify.
Call one “ate” hundred
H-A-C-K

[AuntShecky]

On the Nose

(by a nose)

It’s plain as myself
on my face that I
am always sticking myself
into other people’s business
when I'm not stuck in a book,
or stuck up in the air
or looking down myself.
If not stuffed up,
I'm running,
though even when I smell sweet
(or sweetly)
a nose is a nose is a nose,
so I guess the
only thing left to do is
to cut off myself to spite my face
for as everybody knows
no nose is good nose.



All Rights Reserved.

[mazHur]

My nose is your nose !

Did you say nose?
Yes, a nose is a nose is a nose
but not like the one I have
You will ask how, why?
Well, you know quite well
why my nose is different;
like other noses it never stuck
somewhere else;
you loved me because of its typical nature
the nature to turn around
up, down, left ,right
at the slight twist
of your arched fingers;
this special nose
was only made for you
to play with
to twist it whenever you liked
it is your obedient nose
your loved nose
made but all of wax !

[symphony]

I surrender to the sonority of silence
to say what I want to say
and to say what has to be said…

[mazHur]

I surrender to the sonority of silence
to say what I want to say
and to say what has to be said…

well said!

[symphony]

Thanks. :)

[mazHur]

IDIOT SIGHTING

Checking in at the airport gate,

I was stopped and asked by the security staff,

""Has anyone put something in your baggage

without your knowledge?''

''If it was without my knowledge,

how would I know?'', I told the chap.

''That's why we ask.'' said the dude

and we both went our ways.

...............

Full of intellect and wisdom,

She was a probation officer in Brisbane.

She and I were crossing a street

When we saw the light on the corner buzzing;

''What the heck are those buzzers for??"", asked she.

''Well, they signal blind people when the light is red"', said I.

''Oh!'', the brainy officer responded,

''what on earth are blind people doing driving!"

.......................


Down-sizing having made her

old co-worker quit the company,

the manager hosted a good-bye luncheon

in her honor; and remarked:

"" This is fun. We should do it more often.,''

No other word was spoken

and we all looked at each other

with 'a rabbit-in-the-light' stare!
.....................
(adapted)

[mazHur]

A Silent Fart
by mazHur

Oldie and Goldie
were attending a church service .
they were hardly half way through
when Goldie leaned over
and said to her husband,
"I just let out a silent fart
what do you think I should do?"
Oldie replied:
"Put a new battery
in your hearing aid!":)
(adapted)

[kiz_paws]

This thread of poems
were tiny and delightful
let us post some more

[AuntShecky]

The imagination is
an employee of hope.
Once I fell in love
with a blushing sunset
that was just pink neon
from Wegman’s roof.

All rights reserved.

[AuntShecky]

Changing the Calendar


It only takes a second
to flip one month to the next;
a little longer to take down
the old calendar and put up
the New – - but even faster
do the years fly by! The life-
span is rushing away,
like sand spilling out
through a cracked hourglass.
I wish I had a giant thumbtack
to pin time to the wall,
a mile-long strip of tape to keep
these waning days in place.


All Rights Reserved.

[mazHur]

Changing the Calendar


It only takes a second
to flip one month to the next;
a little longer to take down
the old calendar and put up
the New – - but even faster
do the years fly by! The life-
span is rushing away,
like sand spilling out
through a cracked hourglass.
I wish I had a giant thumbtack
to pin time to the wall,
a mile-long strip of tape to keep
these waning days in place.


All Rights Reserved.


Not a tiny poem really but a Hamalaya of great thoughts! Congrats !

[mazHur]

Cowries and Conches
by mazHur

Wish there was a time tunnel
and we could travel back in time
to our childhood, our youth,
and repeat the follies again !

Wish the sun keeps showering
its warm rays on all evenly,
prejudices were burnt to dust
and people lived in peace.

Wish the reign of love prevailed
you and me went wading in the sea
collected cowries and conches from the beach
and built a Statue of Liberty from them again!

[LadyW]

LIAR
Do not cast your h o l l o w eyes upon me with apathetic pity.
For I have seen the truth and acknowledge it with all the dignity I can salvage.
Pay no heed to your transgressions. As always,
Ignorance is bliss.
My query is uttered from my lips, the question filling the room;
Articulated in such a c u t t i n g manner.
Its threatening presence silences us,
And you f a l l from your high throne of self-importance.
Your voice fails and your eyes remain locked to the floor; a shelter from confrontation.
Not daring to venture from this safe-place.
I look to y o u, searching for reprieve from this agonizing stillness,
But my attempts are fruitless...
For I have already lost you to SIN.

[Xillus_Xavier]

Pride on My Pillow

The dark strands
on my white pillow case
are daily reminders
of the barren future ahead.

[V.Jayalakshmi]

Here is a little hello from me,

I know not whether there will be hello's ahead,

For I am but a dot in this idiot box called life.

[formality hater]

Hey I can't believe the thread has been abandoned like this...:shock:

Let me revive it with something...(toomuch shocked to come up with something worthy for the thread)

He wanted a pirate tattoo
He wanted his lips pierced,
He played the huge drums,
And lived on cheesy tortuillas,
And his poor father explains,
"My son is a gorilla!"

I think it was the first poem I had written.I accidently found it in an old carton today and it made me chuckle...D

[blp]

Bad, bruising, bloated boring men keep walking in here
Maybe one of them’s the guy for you, honey
Maybe this one with his chewed cigar
Maybe one day every day will be your birthday
Maybe one day he’ll win the gameshow and
drive up to get you in a brand new car
He’ll say, give me a burger with everything on it
And, keep the change, from a hundred dollar bill

[AtomicCafe1]

what's wrong and right
by obscure beat poet Bing Deploy

I have seen the truths of men
Buried in the depths of them,
And what I carried out from that snowfall,
if that out of X, Y, Z
It's wise to choose Y
Wrong to choose all.

[Il Penseroso]

Shake the biting wind
from fingertips numbed to bone,
loosen these metal
claws transfigured by the cold,
unseal aching from its mold.

[Pendragon]

To the tiny
Grey mouse,
I put out grain
For you.
It is not poison
For I don’t mind—
Sharing life
With you.
Here’s part of a blanket
For a warm bed—
The Nights are
Growing cold.
But please eat your grain
And not nibble my food—
Little one
We both must live…

Pendragon
© 1/13/08

[AuntShecky]

If Curiosity

offed the cat, it could
also be fatal to non-felines.
Lured by the look lurking
in your eye, I wish that
your smile would stop
murdering me.

All Rights Reserved.

[formality hater]

Aquamarine frock with sparkly lace,
Displayed to be cherished,envied and admired,
But those with empty pockets, too stared,
And the little eyes silently cried.

[AuntShecky]

Like a Closet Alcoholic


I love you, but
I don't want anyone
to know.

Especially you.

[mazHur]

you cannot hide
the redolence of
love and musk
no matter what
sooner or later
the world will
come to know !

[kiz_paws]

To the tiny
Grey mouse,
I put out grain
For you.
It is not poison
For I don’t mind—
Sharing life
With you.
Here’s part of a blanket
For a warm bed—
The Nights are
Growing cold.
But please eat your grain
And not nibble my food—
Little one
We both must live…

Pendragon
© 1/13/08

That was sooooo sweet, so you, Pen. Loved it! :thumbs_up





If Curiosity

offed the cat, it could
also be fatal to non-felines.
Lured by the look lurking
in your eye, I wish that
your smile would stop
murdering me.

All Rights Reserved.OMG, how awesome in a teeny bottle like this! "Lured by the look lurking" grabbed me. Love it, Aunty! ;)

[dramasnot6]

Like a Closet Alcoholic


I love you, but
I don't want anyone
to know.

Especially you.

Aww...I can't quite pinpoint why, but this touched me.

[The Intended]

We wore white gloves
And laced pinafores
With fur lined bonnets
That were long since put away
We walked
Hand and hand
Through black, uncaring streets
Three miles, in darkness
To the cracked concrete steps
Where they took pity on us
Because we were young
And so, so lost
But,
Hand in hand,
We were not alone

All rights reserved

[kiz_paws]

I look in the glass
and smile at the unknown girl
who tries to be me

[symphony]

I look in the glass
and smile at the unknown girl
who tries to be me

U do have a hand for haikus, lady! This is beautiful!

[symphony]

... Mine are eyes that know
only how to stare
and seek more....

[AuntShecky]

Aw, Kiz Paws, thanks for this:
<<Lured by the look lurking" grabbed me. Love it, Aunty! >>
but your auntie is addicted to alliteration!

[PrinceMyshkin]

Here is a poem so small
you went right by
without noticing it!

[Grace&Chemicals]

In the cold we stood
Eyes in contact
Lips blue
Waiting
For something
The slightest movement
To signal our frozen thought

[mazHur]

In the cold we stood
Eyes in contact
Lips blue
Waiting
For something
The slightest movement
To signal our frozen thought

this is simply beautiful !

[Grace&Chemicals]

thanks, i havent decided what to call it since i just made it up but the first thing that came to mind was 'Kissing'

[lucidnightmares]

inside your eyes
an endless beauty
to lose myself within

[AuntShecky]

The Comedian as in the
Letter “Sea”

He put a shell up
to his ear and then
handing it to me, said,
“It’s for you.”

[AuntShecky]

Nowhere Near Kansas

Like a whirlwind, Love
picks us up
and puts us down
in a place we’ve never been.

[Jeb0092]

A glimmer in her eye
the woman she will be
I caught a glimpse of her last night
with moonlight on her face.

[mazHur]

Lost Love

Oh, my love! Excuse me
for my missing attention,
please don't expect from me
the same love, the same adornment
that once was a trait of mine;
the love that I showered on you;
things have changed over the past,
there are bigger problems than love
to attend to in this mad, mad world;
there are better pleasures than the joy
of your sweet company,
I am sorry, my dear, I cannot, just cannot
return you the same love of yore;
let us become strangers again !

[formality hater]

They call him insane,
But he just explains,
That unlike them
He hates formality!

[mazHur]

I met her in the park
and we got attracted
towards each other;
later we went on a date
together
we drank and drank
until we were no more ourselves;
finally the mutual veils dropped
all I could see two apples dropping
into my hands; On the other
all she held was a real fresh banana
both of us held our share of veggies
we laughed together
and ate our fated fruits
like two good Vegans!

[symphony]

There's always someone to take the blames,
And this time I chose the world.

[mazHur]

There's always someone to take the blames,
And this time I chose the world.

Wow, what a deep thought , sad though!
I liked it !